[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 93 (Monday, May 13, 1996)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 22006-22008]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-11756]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 300
[FRL-5504-1]
National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan;
National Priorities List
Agency: Environmental Protection Agency.
Action: Notice of Intent to Delete Martin Marietta Aluminum Company
from the National Priorities List Update: Request for Comments.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 10,
announces its intent to delete the Martin Marietta Site from the
National Priorities List (NPL) and requests public comment on this
proposed action. The NPL constitutes Appendix B of 40 CFR part 300
which is the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution
Contingency Plan (NCP), which EPA promulgated pursuant to Section 105
of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and
Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980, as amended. EPA and the State of Oregon
Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) have determined that the Site
poses no significant threat to public health or the environment and,
therefore, further remedial measures pursuant to CERCLA are not
appropriate.
DATES: Comments concerning this Site may be submitted on or before June
12, 1996.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to: Howard Orlean, Environmental
Protection Agency, 1200 Sixth Avenue,
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Mail Stop: ECL-113, Seattle, Washington 98101.
Comprehensive information on this Site is available through the
Region 10 public docket which is available for viewing at the Martin
Marietta Site information repositories at the following locations:
Dalles/Wasco County Library, 722 Court Street, The Dalles, Oregon
97058.
United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region 10 Office of
Environmental Cleanup - Records Center, Attn: Lynn Williams, 1200 Sixth
Avenue, Mail Stop, ECL-113, Seattle, Washington 98101.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Howard Orlean, U.S. EPA Region 10,
1200 Sixth Avenue, Mail Stop: ECL-113, Seattle, Washington 98101, (206)
553-6903.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II. NPL Deletion Criteria
III. Deletion Procedures
IV. Basis of Intended Site Deletion
I. Introduction
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 10 announces its
intent to delete a site from the National Priorities List (NPL),
Appendix B of the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Contingency
Plan (NCP), 40 CFR Part 300, and requests comments to this deletion.
EPA identifies sites on the NPL that appear to present a significant
risk to human health or the environment. As described in Section
300.425(e)(3) of the NCP, sites deleted from the NPL remain eligible
for Fund-financed remedial actions in the unlikely event that
conditions at the site warrant such actions.
EPA plans to delete the Martin Marietta Aluminum Company Site
(``Site'') at 3313 West 2nd Street, The Dalles, Oregon 97058, from the
NPL.
EPA will accept comments on the plan to delete this Site for thirty
days after publication of this notice in the Federal Register.
Section II of this notice explains the criteria for deleting sites
from the NPL. Section III discusses procedures that EPA is using for
this action. Section IV discusses the Martin Marietta Aluminum Company
Site and explains how the Site meets the deletion criteria.
II. NPL Deletion Criteria
Section 300.425(e) of the NCP provides that ``releases'' (sites)
may be deleted from, or recategorized on the NPL where no further
response is appropriate. In making a determination to delete a site
from the NPL, EPA shall consider, in consultation with the state,
whether any of the following criteria have been met:
(i) Responsible parties or other parties have implemented all
appropriate response actions required;
(ii) All appropriate Fund-financed responses under CERCLA have
been implemented, and no further action by responsible parties is
appropriate, or
(iii) The remedial investigation has shown that the release
poses no significant threat to public health or the environment and,
therefore, taking of remedial measures is not appropriate.
Even if a site is deleted from the NPL, where hazardous substances,
pollutants or contaminants remain at the site above levels that allow
for unlimited use and unrestricted exposure, EPA's policy is that a
subsequent review of the site will be conducted at least every five
years after the initiation of the remedial action at the site to ensure
that the site remains protective of public health and the environment.
In the case of the Martin Marietta Aluminum Company Site, hazardous
substances remain on the Site which are above health-based levels,
therefore, access restrictions, monitoring, operation and maintenance
activities, and periodic five-year reviews will continue. In addition,
whenever there is a significant release from a site deleted from the
NPL, the site may be restored to the NPL without the application of the
Hazard Ranking System.
III. Deletion Procedures
The following procedures were used for the intended deletion of
this Site: (1) EPA Region 10 issued preliminary and final close out
reports which documented the achievement of cleanup goals; (2) The
Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) concurred with the
proposed deletion decision; (3) A notice has been published in the
local newspaper and has been distributed to appropriate federal, state,
and local officials and other interested parties announcing the
commencement of a 30-day public comment period on EPA's Notice of
Intent to Delete; and, (4) All relevant documents have been made
available for public review in the local Site information repositories.
Deletion of the Site from the NPL does not itself, create, alter or
revoke any individual rights or obligations. The NPL is designed
primarily for informational purposes to assist Agency management. As
mentioned in Section II of this Notice, 40 CFR 300.425(e)(3) states
that deletion of a site from the NPL does not preclude eligibility for
future Fund-financed response actions.
EPA's Regional Office will accept and evaluate public comments on
EPA's Notice of Intent to Delete before making a final decision. The
Agency will prepare a Responsiveness Summary if any significant public
comments are received.
A deletion occurs when the Regional Administrator places a final
notice in the Federal Register. Generally, the NPL will reflect
deletions in the final update following the Notice. Public notices and
copies of the Responsiveness Summary will be made available to local
residents by the Regional office.
IV. Basis for Intended Site Deletion
The following site summary provides the Agency's rationale for the
intention to delete this Site from the NPL.
A. Site Background
Martin Marietta Aluminum was an aluminum reduction facility located
in The Dalles, Wasco County, Oregon, just west of the Columbia River
and east of the Union Pacific Railroad tracks at 3313 West 2nd Street.
The area surrounding the site is primarily mixed heavy and light
industrial and manufacturing property.
B. History
Aluminum production operations were begun at the Site by Harvey
Aluminum, Inc. in 1958. Harvey Aluminum, Inc. became a wholly owned
subsidiary of Martin Marietta Corporation (MMC) in 1970. The Martin
Marietta facility continued operations until 1984, when the plant was
shut down. In September of 1986, MMC leased a portion of the facility
to Northwest Aluminum Company (NWA), which resumed primary aluminum
operations in late 1986. In October 1991, MMC sold the portion of the
facility not affected by deed restrictions to NWA. In 1995, MMC merged
with Lockheed Corporation to form Lockheed Martin. Lockheed Martin, as
successor to MMC, maintains the portion of the NWA plant affected by
CERCLA remedial actions. The NWA plant still produces aluminum by
electrolytic reduction of alumina.
During facility operation, waste constituents were stored, treated,
and disposed of at the Site. Hazardous substances generated by the
Martin Marietta facility included fluoride, sodium, sulfate, cyanide
and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).
A landfill located in the northern portion of the Site was used to
dispose of primarily construction debris from the plant. Other
materials disposed of in this landfill included asbestos
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insulation, coke, pitch and cathode waste.
In the Spring of 1983, the presence of cyanide compounds was
detected in the ground water at the Martin Marietta facility. The site
was proposed for inclusion on the NPL in October 1984. On June 10, 1986
the Site was placed on the NPL.
In September 1985, MMC and EPA entered into a Consent Order to
conduct a remedial investigation/feasibility study (RI/FS) for the
Site. On September 29, 1988, EPA signed a Record of Decision (ROD) that
addressed the potential sources of contamination as identified in the
RI/FS. The selected remedial action in the ROD included the following
components:
Consolidate on-Site residual cathode waste and fill
material into the existing Landfill;
Cap the existing Landfill in place with a multi-media cap
meeting Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) performance
criteria;
Place a soil cover over two Sludge Ponds;
Plug and abandon nearby production wells and connect users
to the City of The Dalles water supply system;
Collect and treat leachate generated from the Landfill;
Recover and treat contaminated ground water from a perched
zone near the Unloading Area portion of the Site;
Prepare ground-water quality monitoring and contingency
plans to perform additional recovery of ground water in the event that
further contamination is detected above health based standards; and
Implement institutional controls including deed
restrictions and fencing, to assure that the remedial action will
protect human health and the environment during and after
implementation.
An Explanation of Significant Differences (ESD) was signed by EPA
Region 10 on September 23, 1994. The ESD documented modifications to
remedial actions which were anticipated in the ROD, and an addition to
the remedial action which was not anticipated in the ROD.
Changes to the ROD which are documented in the ESD include the
following:
The ROD anticipated that the volume of leachate generated
from the Landfill would be reduced to a negligible flow within five
years. However, since the signing of the ROD, the leachate flow rate
has not decreased significantly. As a result, the leachate will have to
be treated for a longer term than expected.
The ROD also required treatment of contaminated ground
water in an area known as the Unloading Area. Additional ground-water
information which was collected since the ROD, has made it unnecessary
to treat the ground water in the Unloading Area.
C. Characterization of Risk
Prior to remediation, the preliminary environmental pathways of
concern related to the wastes from the aluminum reduction facility were
ground water and on-Site soils.
The remedial action commenced on August 29, 1989 and consisted of
the following activities:
Consolidation and capping of wastes and debris from three
former operating units.
Excavation and consolidation of cathodic wastes into the
Landfill, and placement of a multi-layered RCRA performance cap over
the Landfill.
Construction of a Leachate Collection System and Cyanide
Destruction Treatment System to collect and transfer any generated
leachate from the Landfill for treatment.
Abandonment of four potable water wells in the vicinity of
the Site, and connecting their users to the municipal supply.
Implementation of institutional controls.
Implementation of a ground-water monitoring program.
On-Site containment of contaminated soils and debris has reduced
exposure and inhibited the source of ground-water contamination.
Analytical data based on five years of ground-water monitoring
following the remedial action indicate concentrations of contaminants
of concern do not exceed ROD cleanup levels.
All pathways by which environmental receptors could potentially be
exposed to Site-related contaminants have been eliminated.
Since hazardous substances will remain on Site, operation and
maintenance activities will continue, and institutional controls will
remain in effect. A long-term ground-water monitoring program has been
implemented at the Site. In addition, the Site will continue to be
subject to periodic five-year reviews to ensure that the remedy remains
protective of human health and the environment.
D. Public Participation
Community input has been sought by EPA Region 10 throughout the
cleanup process for the Site. Community relations activities have
included public meetings prior to signing of the ROD, several public
notices in local newspapers, and routine publication of progress fact
sheets. A copy of the Deletion Docket can be reviewed by the public at
the Dalles/Wasco County Library or the EPA Region 10 Superfund Records
Center. The Deletion Docket includes this Notice, the ROD, ESD,
Remedial Action Construction Report, Preliminary Site Close-Out Report,
and Final Site Close-Out Report. EPA Region 10 will also announce the
availability of the Deletion Docket for public review in a local
newspaper and informational fact sheet.
One of the three criteria for deletion specifies that EPA may
delete a site from the NPL if ``responsible parties or other persons
have implemented all appropriate response actions required''. EPA, with
the concurrence of DEQ, believes that this criterion for deletion has
been met. Ground water and soil data from the Site confirm that the ROD
cleanup goals have been achieved. It is concluded that there is no
significant threat to human health or the environment and, therefore,
no further remedial action is necessary. Subsequently, EPA is proposing
deletion of this Site from the NPL. Documents supporting this action
are available from the docket.
Dated: May 2, 1996.
Chuck Clarke,
Regional Administrator, Region 10.
[FR Doc. 96-11756 Filed 5-10-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
